Inbetween
by aliienteeth
Summary: Prompts and drabbles of moments between meeting and growing old with friends.
1. 1

Prompt #1: **Rain**

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 **0 Days**

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"This storm is ridiculous." Drew the bard pondered, standing in the door way of the rather durable tent he'd set up under some trees. He could hear the rain and wind rip through the forest him and his friends had settled in. They started a small stove fire in the tent to provide light and warmth. Willow sat in the corner sorting out the rations for the upcoming days, Max propped himself against the walls and rolled joints back into place that had been hurting him from fighting. Gahenna kept the fire going and looked back at Drew, wondering how long he was going to stand and stare out into the darkness and let the rain get it. The four of them would have to settle with tight quarters tonight.

"Come inside, Drew," Gahenna began. She was slightly irritated, but never dropped her motherly tone. "The floor is getting wet."

Drew sighed and backed away. He was about to zip up the tent when he heard a loud rustling in the bushes outside. He stopped dead in his tracks. "What?" Willow asked. Drew shushed her and listened again. The rustling sounded even closer this time.

"Max." Drew turned to his companion and without saying a word, Max was up with his sword at his side. "Do you think we were followed?"

The half-elf shrugged. "I don't think so. We pretty much took care of all we needed to before we moved on."

"Hey!" Drew called into the night, stepping out of the tent and towards the brush.

"Drew, don't be stupid!" Willow hollered, standing up and looking out to see what was happening. Max followed Drew a few steps behind, ready to attack if need be. Drew approached the bushes and caught them rustling once more. Looking down, he saw a rather heavy branch laying at his feet. He picked it up and swung it a few times to get a hang of how much damage it could do. Max rolled his eyes.

"Wait! Wait!" A timid, feminine voice called from the bushes. A cloaked figure came out from behind the brush, holding an arm out. "Please, I'm just passing by and I saw your tent." She was shaking, her voice seconds away from cracking into a sob.

"It's a girl..." Willow spoke softly. She had followed the men out and stood beside Max, who quickly put his blade away.

"I'm just on my way to the next town. I don't mean any harm." The girl stepped forward. As she got closer, Drew could see that she was soaked and dirty, with blood pooling around her foot.

"Hey, you're hurt." He pointed out. He dropped the branch and extended a hand out, much sweeter than he had been moments ago. "You gotta get that cleaned up, or you'll end up losing that foot."

Willow, sensing no threat from the unmasked cloak, helped her throw an arm over her shoulder, and walk her to their tent. "You don't have to do this." The girl said, wincing at each step from the rather large gash in her foot.

Willow turned her head and smiled. "Our gnoll friend will fix you right up." She was careful to make sure the girl didn't put much pressure on her foot. She guided her into the tent and sat her down on a pile of blankets. "Gahenna, this girl is hurt. Can you help her?"

Gahenna was taken aback by the sudden stranger bleeding in front of her, but she agreed and started rumaging through her things. Max and Drew entered shortly after, shaking the rain water off themselves. The gnoll turned around and saw the sopping wet cloak and reached a paw out to her. "You should take this off. We will hang it to dry over the stove."

The girl pulled the cloak tighter. "N-no that's okay." She argued hesitantly, regretting coming off rude to the people that were so kind to her.

"You'll get sick if you don't." Max added, standing in the doorway.

She knew he was right. She exhaled audibly and slowly started to pull the hood off. Long, matted tendrils of muted pink hair peeked through as they fell down her bare shoulders. Her skin was incredibly green, and it was definitely from pigment and not from any illness. Her ears were large and pointed back, similar to Willow's, but there was no way this girl had Elf blood anywhere in her. Her face, along with the rest of her, was chubby and smooth. Her eyes large and pure black.

"Woah.." Drew said, only to be elbowed sharply by Max.

"Please don't be scared...I'm really not dangerous." She begged, looking around to see faces mixed with horror and genuine curiosity. "My name is Felix."

Gahenna sighed. "That's an unusual name for a girl." She was the first to break the silence, for she knew how it felt to look different in a group of moderately attractive people.

"My Mama named me Felicia...I don't care for it. I'd rather be known as just Felix if that's okay." Gahenna took the cloak in her arms and stoofd to hang it on a rope above the stove.

Willow got down on her knees and crawled over to Felix. She reched up and tugged lightly through her thick hair. "Is this your natural color?"

Felix nodded. "I'm half Moth Avian. At least that's what my father says I am."

"Avian?" Max asked. He stepped forward and circled her a little, studying her full appearance. "How? Avian creatures don't tend to settle around humans. Especially those of the insect variety."

Felix looked up at him and met his piercing eyes. Her breath caught in her throat and found him to be a little intimidating. "I-I'm sorry. I'm afraid I don't know their story." Max said nothing and walked back to his original corner of the tent. "My birth mother gave me up when I was just a few weeks old. I was adopted by a ship captain and his wife."

"You don't have to tell us your whole story, sweet cheeks." Drew said. He zipped the tent up. Felix blushed and felt embarrassed for exposing too much. Gahenna found her supplies and started to disenfect and bandage her wound. "What happened to you, anyway?" Drew asked, walking over to her.

"I stepped on a broken branch, Got me right through the foot." Felix hissed at each movement Gahenna made, tying tighter and tighter with each wrap.

"I'll make you some soup, Felix." Willow chirped happily and bounced up from her spot, looking at the newly organized rations.

"Make us men some filet while you're at it." Drew laughed, looking at Max. Max rolled his eyes again.

"Please, don't go through the trouble." Felix insisted. Gahenna finished the final bow on her dressing and she was quite proud of it.

Willow ignored her and within minutes had a fresh bowl of beef and vegetables in front of Felix. Felix looked down wide eyed, then peered back up to Willow. "What's wrong? Are you a vegetarian?" Willow asked, concerned that she wasn't eating.

"No, not that" Felix said, careful not to seem rude. "I just haven't had a meal like this in weeks. Thank you so much.."

"Willow." The elf answered. "My name is Willow. This furry lady right here is Gahenna. She can fix any injury in minutes flat." She wrapped an arm around Gahennas elbow. She gestured her head forward towards the bard. "This handsome piece of work is Drew. He'll charm you just as quickly as he'll irritate you." Drew shrugged and agreed. Then Willow turned to Max who still sat in the corner. "And this old grump is Max. He may look like a hard ass, but he has a heart of gold."

Max failed in holding back a laugh. "Is that how you see me?"

Willow smiled and turned her full attention back to the girl who received way too much information in the past few minutes. "Felix, we can't let you go out like that alone."

"Please stay with us for a while. Until you're healed at least." Gahenna finished.

Felix blinked. She waited for them to start laughing like it was a joke. Drew and Max said nothing. They knew at the end of the day they had no say in the matter. Willow stared at her with pleading eyes. Felix thought about it and she knew she had nowhere to go. She'd eventually end up dead out there all alone. This group apparently had some skill that kept them alive all this time. "I suppose I can for a while..." She was hesitant, but was immediately greeted with a gentle hand upon hers.

"You'll be safe with us." Willow was so kind and so beautiful. It made Felix uneasy.

"Welcome." Drew said and for the first time that night, he smiled at her.

"If there's anything we can get you..." Gahenna started.

Felix only yawned. She was four bites in to her food and too tired to take another one. "I hate to waste food, but I'm really tired. Would it be alright if I lay down?" Gahenna got up immediately and rolled an extra bed out in the corner next to Max, who got up and sat by Drew instead. She lowered the lighting on the stove and gestured for Felix to lay down. She thanked the gnoll through heavy eyes and a loud yawn. She craweled on the bedding and with no effort at all she was already asleep.

"Poor thing, she was so beat up." Drew noted. The four hung around huddled in a circle to keep their voices at a low volume.

"So," Max began, clearing his throat and preparing for the inevitable backlash, "you guys just trust some random girl? She could be an assassin or something. It's not like there aren't people out there that don't want us dead."

"Max, look at her. She's practically a child." Willow argued, looking back and admiring the sleepy, chubby face on the other side of the room.

"You know who else was a child? Juno. That didn't stop her from being a thorn in all our sides." He sighed. "I'm just saying, let's not be too careless. Yes, she's probably fine but that doesn't mean everyone is."

"You're such a buzzkill. She's cute, man. I'm tired of looking at Willow all the time." Drew scoffed, and was greeted with the empty soup can thrown at his temple.

"Cute doesn't mean safe. She can stay, but I'll have my eye on her, is all."

"There's a saying in my home village." Gahenna spoke, interupting the argument happening before her. Everyone turned to her. "Helping a stranger in the storm leads to good luck. That's what I was taught. In this case it's a literal storm, but I want to believe we will finally have some good luck. We have all gone through so much, I will give this girl my trust until she proves she is unworthy." Gahenna closed her eyes.

Willow stood up. "I agree."

"Maybe she'll be our little good luck charm, Max." Drew added, nudging Max with his elbow. "She could change our lives."

Max gave one last glance over to Felix, who never stirred once during their whole conversation. He shook his head. "Change my life, huh? A little dramatic, wouldn't you say?"


	2. 2

Prompt #2: **Nosey**

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 **11 Days**

/

Gahenna and Drew sat on the hillside, looking down wearily at a commotion happening at the bottom of the hill. Felix came up from behind both of them, still sporting a slight limp in her injured foot. "What's going on?" Her eyes darted back and forth between the two as they stared.

"Max and Willow are at it again." Drew answered flatly. He pointed down at the two friends bickering under the tree line. Their words were inaudible, but Max was waving his hands wildly, and Willow stood there like a stone, arms crossed and stance strong.

Felix chewed at her lip in worry. "Does this happen a lot?"

"It never used to." Gahenna answered. "Over the past few weeks they've been constantly at each other's throats." The three of them watched silently for a few more seconds. Not long after, Willow huffed something at Max and charged up the hill. As she grew closer, tears could be seen flowing freely down her face.

"I hate him!" She cried, barreling past her friends and back toward their campsite.

"Oh god." Drew groaned with a heavy eye roll. Without hesitation, him and Gahenna sprung from their seats and chased after their sobbing companion. Felix stayed behind. She watched them run off into the woods, then turned back around to see Max sitting against the tree he'd just been screaming at Willow under. His elbows rested on his knees, and he held his face in his hands.

Carefully, she stepped down the small hill and walked toward him, waiting for a reaction. He did nothing. She stood just a few feet in front of him, and still he didn't even acknowledge her. Felix didn't talk to Max much. She found him to be a little severe and she wasn't sure if she ever had a full conversation in the days that she'd known him. "Um, M-Maximillian?" She started, kneeling down to meet his eye level.

"What." It wasn't a question. He was annoyed, that much was clear.

Felix stepped back. She couldn't shake the intimidation she felt from her first meeting. Not that she feared he would hurt her, but she just couldn't pin point that warm center in him. She'd seen him smile and laugh amongst the others, but he never seemed to give her that kindness. "Is everything okay?" She asked sweetly.

Never looking up, Max ignored her.

"That fight seemed serious...is something the matter?"

"That's not really any of your concern, Felix." Max barked, removing his head from his hands and locking eyes with her.

"I'm sorry. I'm s-so sorry." Felix stammered and started to back away more.

Max, realizing how he'd scared the poor girl who only was trying to help, sighed and relaxed his stance. "No, just..." He exhaled, then ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it along the way, "It's a long and unnecessary story." He looked the girl up and down, and she took one step closer. "If I'm being honest, I don't know you that well. I don't think I owe you much of an explanation into my personal life."

Felix felt herself get clammy and embarrassed. "You don't" She admit, shaking her head sadly. "I was just curious. I only want to help."

Max rolled his shoulder and stretched. "You can't. It has to go away on it's own." Felix kept an eye on him so full of innocent wonder that he couldn't help but indulge her just a little. "Willow did something that I read too much into and now there's an awkward rift. That's it."

"What was it?" Felix asked, not getting the hint that Max shared all he felt comfortable sharing.

"Don't worry about it."

Felix stopped herself when she realized she was prying too much. "I'm sorry." She repeated. She sat back on her legs and placed her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingers and staring down. "I just don't want any tension between you guys. You're the closest things I have to friends."

Max said nothing. He looked at her, and thought for a moment what it must feel like to be so far away from home. All he'd learned about this girl in the time he'd known her was that she clearly loved to eat and didn't know how to fight her way out of a paper bag. She must be so scared out all alone in this world. "Look," he bagan, "maybe one day I'll tell you all about it. I just need time."

She smiled. That was the best she was going to get. "Okay." She began to stand up to retreat back to the campsite, when she was stopped by Max calling out to her.

"You came in at an awful time." He stated. "I'm not usually like this. I'm in a hard place right now and most of it has to do with what happened with Willow." He sighed, and stood up, brushing dirt and grass off of his clothing. "She isn't a bad person. I'm going to apologize to her." He started walking up the hill and to where his friends were so he could try to make ammends with his friend. Felix watched in silence as he wandered toward the woods.

An even bigger smile crept on her face as she cheered quietly to herself; "I finally had a conversation with him!"


	3. 3

Prompt #3: **Student**

 **Day 38**

The weather had cooled down quite a bit in the last few days, and Gahenna took it upon herself to start gathering wood for a fire pit to keep her and her companions warm that night. Willow wasn't far behind her with an arm full of fish that had been caught for dinner that night. She placed the fish down on a mat and started preparing to cook their dinner. "Max!" Willow called to the half elf sitting behind her, "go see if Felix is ready to eat."

Max sat leaned up against their tent taking inventory of everyone's belongings and making sure everything is in the right place and accounted for. Without a word he got up and stepped around the wall, calling for Felix first to make sure she was decent for him to come in. "Hey, Felix are you hungry?" He called through the thin fabric before unlatching the hooks that kept it shut. He peeked inside to see the Avian girl sprawled out on her belly, laying on and around every pillow they owned. She didn't even look up to Max, and had her eyes glued to a book.

"Out in a minute." She answered him almost robotic-ally.

Curious, Max stepped in and re closed the tent behind him. He walked up to her and stood right over her, still unable to get her full attention. "Are you reading? You like to read?" He was surprised to say the least. Many of the people he'd come across since he left his home barely knew how to read, much less do it voluntarily in their free time.

"Mhmm." Felix answered."It's really the only hobby I took up. It gets boring being on an extravagant ship every day." Max waited for her to indicate she was joking. Nothing happened. Must be a nice life to live.

He shrugged, finding her comment to be completely unrelatable. "I guess for some people." He walked over and sat down beside her, his body inches away from the book that had completely absorbed all of her focus. He watched her for a few seconds and watched her eyes dart back and forth across each word. He had to laugh at how much she was completely engrossed in whatever she was reading. The book was very old, that much he could tell. Dark blue with stripped edged and the pages turned yellow with age. It had been well used, that much was certain. "So what do you like to read about?"

"History, mostly." Felix answered without a second thought. "It's pretty interesting learning about how so many things came to be and all the generations before us." For the first time since Max entered the area, she looked up at him. "Don't you think?"

"Actually, yeah." Max agreed with a nod. He'd learned his share of the past, whether it have to do with the core of certain fighting styles he'd mastered, or just about the ancestors of the people around him. It was more or less forced on him, but he happened to find a fair majority of it really interesting and useful.

"I also enjoy when people document exotic places they've been." Felix looked back down at her book and turned the page. "This world is way too big for me to ever see all of it. Reading about it makes me feel like I've been there."

Max took another glance at the book she was currently infatuated with. "What are you reading now?"

Felix rose up on her knees and a smile swept across her mouth. "It's my favorite. I've read it dozens of times." Pure joy was emanating from her, and she tried hard to hold back and not get too passionate. She closed the book to reveal the crest on the cover. It clearly used to be gold, but the years faded it to an ugly brown. Max raised an eyebrow when he saw the cover. He grabbed it off the floor and brought it into his lap.

"Thought this looked familiar," he said quietly to himself. Immediately he began looking for a specific page. Felix was puzzled, wondering how he even knew about this book at all. After a few seconds of quickly thumbing through large sections, he found the spot he wanted. He opened the page wide and turned it to Felix, pointing at a faded portrait of a young man that must have been painted close to sixty years ago. "Do you see this man?"

Felix nodded. She tried to read the description below the picture, but all she could gather from the scratched off words was the name "Ashald."

"He's amazing!" Felix exclaimed, bouncing up and down like an excited child. "The combat training, the magic, the iron fist but the warm heart... reading about him made me interested in taking up some kind of fighting." She felt a blush creep over her nose. "Not to mention he's really handsome."

Max laughed. "Thanks, my mother tells me I look like him."

Felix didn't seem to catch his comment. Max shook his head. He closed the book again and placed it beside him on the floor. A dangerous smile popped up on his face. "Felix, did I ever tell you my full name?"

Her eyes widened and she shook her head wildly, lower lip dangling open slightly. "It's Maximillian Ashald." His smile was a little cocky, awaiting the inevitable excitement that was going to come. "That man is my grandfather."

Max barely finished his statement before Felix rose on her knees and brought her face closer to his. "Really? Truly?" Her voice was loud and giddy, and she started wiggling in place.

"Everything I learned about combat and spell casting, I learned from him and my father." Max confirmed. He looked at Felix and sighed at her childish reaction, but at the same time he found it quite fitting. Even a little sweet.

With a sharp gasp, her hands flew and landed on his shoulders. "Teach me." Her smile was gone and she was completely serious.

Max laughed for a second, but quickly realized she wasn't joking. His cockiness faded. "Serious?" He asked.

Felix nodded. There was an unmistakable light behind her eyes. A sort of fire that Max hadn't seen before. "All I've wanted my whole life is to learn under a member of your family. I want to be useful to the rest of you."

He swallowed. He was confident in his own abilities, but not sure how well he could teach it. "I don't know, Felix." He looked down and worridly rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm really not sure how much I could offer as a mentor." Felix said nothing. Max looked back at her and could see the disappointment in her face at his answer. He sighed and rollled his head back, thinking for several seconds. Defeated, he smiled. "I'll think about it. Promise."

It wasn't exactly the answer she hoped, but she was happy he didn't completely reject her. "Thank you."

"It's funny you never mentioned this before." Max added. He stood up and started to stretch. He could smell from outside that dinner was moments away from being done.

"I didn't think I'd be working with an actual member of the family!" Felix defended, getting excited and passionate again. "If I knew who you were when I met you, I wouldn't have been so casual."

"I appreciate that you were. I'm tired of so much formality in my life."

"Still," Felix began to argue.

Max smiled and gestured his head for her to follow him. "Let's go eat, huh?"

Felix felt a certain flutter in her chest watching him walk away. She leaned down to pick her book up. She glanced between the book and the doorway where Max had stood, and held the large print close to her heart.


End file.
